Sunday, December 11, 2005
yay. got home last night. in a flash, the long and anticipated trip is over. anyway, i was so tired that i refused to get out of bed since last night till 5+ just now. ha.
went to
hangzhou, suzhou, wuxi, nanjing and shanghai. it was
frigging cold can! especially at the first 3 destinations and i thought i would turn into an ice cream. everyone dreaded when there was wind as it felt like it was biting into your skin! and because of the coldness, i didnt look forward to trips like near some lakes! speaking about lakes, there's this lake at shanghai which is like...a sea? and one at hangzhuo which is vastly huge but the depth is between 1.9m to 3m. ha.
frankly speaking, the places we went were not only boring at times but super costly! you see... they brought us to places like the
pearl factory, some crystal muesum, some silk factory etc! and a 250g packet of pearl powder costs S$70! and the silk blanket costs 380yuan! and that doesnt include the cover which cost about 900yuan! and one bottle of long jing cai is like 200(forgot whether its yuan or sing)! then we went to places for talks on
chinese medicine and
chinese teapots. though the main objective is to
hopefully instill certain knowledge with regards to the chinese culture and practises, its kind of inappropriate for 3 young kids who are still in primary school! oh ya and there was this talk on this lion made of precious stones like jade which is believed to bring luck to the owner. and a small one the size of a 50cents coin costs s$59! and yeah my parents really spent like crazy. mum bought enough pearl powder to last us 4years. the amount of stuff they bought took up more than 2 luggages.
but then again, the cost of living is obviously lower in china, apart for certain places in shanghai.
best part of it is, you can bargain like mad! my auntie bought a jade necklace for just 700yuan! down from the initial 3900yuan. how cool is that! whahaha. but then its known that these sellers jet up their prizes by a few hundred percents. natuarally, there are lots of imitations but they're so real! like the pair of converse shoe which i saw at some street in shanghai! it even has a tag and costs only 100yuan! which is about S$20! haaz. and my mum bought original tv series vcds
for just 200yuan! and my uncle bought an original cd for just 10yuan. hahaha.
unlike singapore, china has really rich historical heritage and culture which is truly impressive. provinces like hangzhou and suzhou have really spectacular places of mother nature.
so it was kind of fun experiencing new stuff in china and the weather is awesome at nanjing and shanghai! so cooling! and of course our tour guide was awesome. just that i felt kind of inferior when i speak to him. and now, i'm so sick of xiao long bao which we had almost everyday!
i still prefer spore to china. muhaha.
firstly, most people there seemed to have replaced cigarettes for food! even at air conditioned places, smoking isnt prohibited!
wth. and even if there's a sign with "no smoking" on it, people do not give a frigging damn even at restaurants!
secondly, because china is so huge, the traffic is terrible especially in shanghai! every monday and friday, everyday in the mornings and evenings, according to the guide, the roads would be jam packed with vechicles. and even in the hotel, we could hear cars honking away even at night. in shanghai, you'll be able to hear honks every second.
thirdly, the traffic lights especially in shanghai are merely "decorations". you see, drivers do not give a damn whether its red or green. even if its red, it'll still drive pass and worst, honk at people who are crossing the road when the green man flashes! also, in china, you dont just look right and left when you cross the road. you must look
left right front back! for the cars and bicycles come from everywhere!
fourthly, too many
pick pockets! thankfully we hadnt met any. ha.
fifthly, due to certain historical values, the food there is super duper oily and salty. totally gross!
sixthly, china seems to hate having toilets! you see, only at places like the airport could you find more than 3 cubicles in the toilet. at the pearl factory, the female toilet only has 3 cubicles. one with no door. the other which you cant lock. and the last one which you cant close the door. i'm highly amused! we're talking about shanghai which consists of 12 singapores! and yet so few toilets. double zzz. ok the worst part is, at the particular street at shanghai, you have to pay 3 jiao3 for each toilet visit. and you know what. i ran out feeling nauseous after being in there for less than 2mins! you see... the 3 cubicles on one side are
doorless! and the other 3 has doors but till your neck. in fact, most toilets in china are like that! the disgusting part was, instead of a toilet bowl, you do your business in a
long drain! and it only flushes after several minutes! you cant imagine the level of grossity (if there's such a word)! the toilets in china seriously need a lot of improvements!
sevethly, for the past 8 days there, i've never heard a word of "excuse me" and only "sorry" once though i believe i deserve more than that. well, they arent that civilised. they literally push you aside when they wanna walk pass you! and i felt like a fool apologising to them when i blocked them and stuff like that for they didnt bother to even glance at you! even the attitude of the bell boys is atrocious! they didnt even said "thanks" when we gave them tips, which is a
must! zzz.
finally, the people there just spit and sneeze while walking. zzz. so grossssss.
ha what an extremely long complain list. but on a personal note, these really put me off though there are some who said that they like china. but for me, singapore is still the best. muhaha.
it feels great going on holiday. i wanna go again! and pliots are so charming! haha.
take me with you
11:05 PM
